A number of excellent releases document the Colorado Symphony’s increasing distinction over the past decade or so, and they play quite close to the top of their form in this Beethoven Ninth recorded live in September 2014, with Andrew Litton at the helm. Perhaps the presence of both an audience and a bank of unforgiving microphones explains why clarity rather than drama characterises the first two movements. You won’t hear the more finely etched interplay and winged momentum of the Chailly/Gewandhaus traversal (Decca, A/11), nor the shattering climaxes of both Barenboim/Staatskapelle Berlin (Teldec, 4/00) and Munch/Boston editions. However, Litton lavishes care over balances, never taking lower brass punctuations for granted, and emphasising woodwind articulation (the overlapping espressivo sequences, for example). If his orchestra never roars, it still speaks and sometimes whispers on different levels In the Scherzo (Litton observes the main section’s first repeat but not the second), notice how the oboe/clarinet/bassoon passage at the Presto Trio’s outset play softer on the second ending, an unwritten yet effective gesture.

Litton and his musicians find their expressive centre in an Adagio that gives the impression of expansive breadth, yet is actually quite straightforward and free from rhetorical lily-gilding. Close listening further reveals Litton’s assiduous application of string vibrato, from minuscule doses throughout soft, sustained passages to more liberal applications in the sweetly yet not excessively singing florid cantabiles.

While the assured cello/double bass recitative in the finale’s introduction is undercut by occasionally tentative orchestral tutti punctuations, the movement’s profile gains focus once the vocalists enter. The robust-toned Kevin Deas seemingly stretches out his opening recitative for ever, but the Ode to Joy’s opening verses gather firm momentum (helped by heightened woodwind counterlines). John Mac Master’s wooly tenor adds just the right flavour to the March’s gently boisterous, Janissary-like orchestral colour. Litton navigates the myriad tempo changes and sectional transitions with a seasoned hand; notice how he sustains the hushed excitement of the Allegro ma non tanto’s scurrying counterpart without pushing the tempo, while keeping the vocal soloists and chorus in ideal perspective.

The engineering reflects an honest concert hall aesthetic, including the inevitable audience coughs and shuffles, but without the tonal heft and ambient warmth of the Chailly/Gewandhaus and the underrated Sinopoli/Dresden live recordings, nor the perpetually potent Günter Wand/NDR reference studio version. How Litton/Colorado ultimately fares within an excessively crowded Beethoven Ninth catalogue is anyone’s guess, yet the participants unquestionably do themselves proud.